Babcock explores how to recycle a Eurofighter Typhoon
September 10, 2025
As the United Kingdom’s Babcock International contractor finally recycles the first Royal Navy nuclear submarine 34 years after retirement, it is teaming up with Uplift360 to recycle retiring Eurofighter Typhoons. The partnership has just been announced at DSEI 2025 (see our dedicated page).
Uplift360 enters partnership with Babcock to recycle Typhoons
The cleantech startup company, Uplift360, told Aerospace Global News (AGN) that it has reached a new partnership with Babcock International to recycle retired Typhoon fighter jets. The partnership officially launches on 10 September during the UK DSEI 2025 exhibition.
The partnership includes exploring ways to recycle the composite materials of Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets. It explores how to recycle a Eurofighter Typhoon, as well as works to create scalable recovery routes across defence platforms.
Uplift360 uses chemical-based recycling technologies to recover and reuse high-performance materials that would otherwise be wasted.
AGN has recently reported that the Royal Air Force has already retired 26 Tranche 1 Typhoons and is set to retire the remaining four Tranche 1s by 2027.
Typhoon fighter jets are over 70% CFCs
It is no simple matter to recycle composites. Uplift360 notes that advanced materials like carbon fibre and aramids are built to last. But also, once these are used, they are difficult to recycle and are typically landfilled or incinerated.
This is similar to why wind turbine blades, mostly built of fibreglass or carbon fibre reinforced with a thermoset resin, are so difficult to separate and recycle.
In efforts to increase the Typhoon’s strength-to-weight ratio, over 80% of the airframe is constructed out of modern materials. The materials also help the aircraft reduce its radar cross-section compared with metal structures.
Over 70% of the aircraft’s shell is comprised of Carbon Fibre Composites (CFC). This includes the outer fuselage, the wings, and the rudder. A significant amount of the structural members are also built from CFCs.
In total, just 15% of the Typhoon’s shell is constructed of metal, and 40% of the structural weight is CFCs.
Recycling the Eurofighter Typhoon
The Typhoon is typically designed to last around 6,000 flight hours, which is the equivalent of 30 years of service. That said, they may be able to last much longer, as a static test in 1998 found the aircraft had completed a simulated 18,000 hours.
An advertised 6,000-hour lifespan is actually on the low end for Western fighter jets, with most modern US fighters able to last at least 8,000 hours, rising to an incredible 20,000 flight hours for the latest F-15EX II.
The UK considered donating retired Typhoons to Ukraine. In March 2025, the UK Defence Journal reported the UK had ruled the notion out, believing its resources would be better spent assisting Ukraine in integrating the F-16s being donated by other European countries.
In lieu of a new home (including museums), the retiring 30 RAF Tranche 1 Eurofighters will need to be scrapped and recycled.
It can be noted that not all retired military equipment is recycled. For example, Australia famously buried its fleet of F-111 Aardvarks, and the US Navy sometimes sinks ships as artificial reefs.
A week on Operation Chessman.
— Royal Air Force (@RoyalAirForce) June 15, 2025
RAF Typhoons show their might intercepting Russian aircraft protecting NATO airspace, and the RAF demonstrates, with its allies #WeAreNATO
Read more https://t.co/PgpeyWhyO9 pic.twitter.com/ASqQ7XGQCa
Until now, the Royal Navy has not been able to recycle any of its retired nuclear submarines, which is only now changing as HMS Swiftsure is being dismantled and recycled at Babcock International’s Rosyth Dockyard in Scotland. This is set to be completed by the end of 2026, some 34 years after the boat retired in 1992.
